I strongly disagree. "Manager" is short for something longer like "Project Manager". It grates on my nerves when someone talks about their "boss", because that'

I strongly disagree. "Manager" is short for something longer like "Project Manager". It grates on my nerves when someone talks about their "boss", because that's exactly what a manager is not (although many happily exercise power that's not theirs to exercise). I agree though that it's dubious to think that a manager is going to inspire. The best a manager or executive can do is to refrain from exercising power (at least as long as we have pyramidal power structures), since a lot of damage is caused by people feeling intimidated or withholding opinions. Perhaps if a manager can be fired by non-managers as easily as a non-manager can be fired by a manager, things would be different. That's a world that I'd love to see.